I count my blessings

REFLECTIONS AT THANKSGIVING TIME

"I am thankful for small mercies. I compared notes with one of my friends who expects everything of the universe and is disappointed when anything is less than the best, and I found that I begin at the other extreme, expecting nothing, and am always full of thanks for moderate goods." --- Ralph Waldo Emerson.

The year since last Thanksgiving that has zipped by so quickly has brought new experiences, new adventures, new friends, a new place to call home, and a few minor bumps in the road. Hopefully that is true for you. But it has likewise been one of the best years of my life. Hopefully that is also true for you. For what they're worth, these are some of the things that make me smile and for which I am grateful at Thanksgiving time and throughout the year:

Olivia, Dylan and Audrey, the treasures of my life, the grandkids who make every day worth getting up for . . . distant train whistles . . . the words "winter storm watch" on the weather forecast . . . peanut butter-and-currant jelly sandwiches . . . the music of "Fiddler on the Roof" and the memories it revives . . . downtown Rochester with its shops, restaurants and skyscraper hospitals . . . the doughnuts with maple frosting at Wall Drug, worth a momentary detour off I-90 . . . Garrison Keillor and "Prairie Home Companion," on the radio or live at the Fitzgerald . . . a green light on Cherry Street when USD kids aren't trying to cross the highway . . . our white German shepherd, Oliver, one of God's dearest creatures . . . restaurants like Buffalo Wild Wings where five different games are playing on the TV screens . . . the bells, whip cracks and horse whinnies of "Sleigh Ride" . . . book stores . . . summer band concerts in the park . . . Duke basketball . . . the first cup of coffee in the morning . . . the next cup of coffee---after Oliver's first walk of the day . . . watching the semis whiz by on I-29 with Dylan from the Junction City rest area . . . Coyotes football in the DakotaDome . . . deviled eggs . . . the Cubs . . . winning a 50-50 prize at a baseball game---one of life's rarest occurrences . . . Wrigley Field . . . the scent of rain in the air . . . wind chimes . . . the Vikings---when they're playing well . . . thick Sunday newspapers . . . family Christmas letters (take a hint!---but e-mails will do) . . . the hot cinnamon mini-doughnuts they sell at the hockey arena in Sioux City . . . the sun streaming through stained-glass windows of a church.

Warm memories of my two years in Custer, especially the people I didn't know at all three years ago at this time but who now I can't imagine being part of my life . . . Wildcat football's picturesque setting . . . The Purple Pie Place and its rhubarb pie . . . the outdoors view from the pews at LYF . . . the folks who said "Yes!" whenever I begged them to be part of "Question of the Week" for the Chronicle . . . supper before the All-State Chorus concert with the Custer singers and their parents . . . the view down the hill coming into town from the north with the "Custer" sign aglow above downtown . . . folks from the Pierre years coming into the Chronicle office to say hello . . . the holiday lights parade . . . the painted life-sized Custer Stampede buffalo all around town . . . the boys cheering en masse for the girls basketball team . . . the homemade soup at the senior center on soup-and-pie day . . . the cordial ladies at Carson Drug . . . Blossom, my canine friend, who ran to meet me every Wednesday at the bookstore . . . the veranda at Crazy Horse with big flakes of snow fluttering down . . . the grade school kids who pointed at me and my camera bag and said something like "You're the camera guy!" . . . the athletes who are college freshmen now but who were lowly sophomores when I arrived . . . the Black Hills Playhouse . . . the sun still illuminating the top of Harney Peak even though it's already dark down below . . . the school's Veterans Day program . . . a cross-country race at the golf course . . . the chatter between June and Pam eminating from the back room while they stuffed inserts on Tuesdays . . . Barb calling me by name as she takes my order at Subway . . . finding unique must-have treasures for my grandkids at Surroundings . . . cheery greetings from the folks in the school offices and the administration building . . . the Destination ImagiNation teams . . . the new high school . . . the Chronicle gang . . . Larry Legend and the basketball memories hanging on his office wall . . . the view of the Harney range from the road south of town . . . the folks at the post office . . . the courtroom at the old courthouse museum---a scene straight out of a 1950s Western . . . conversations with Dorothea Edgington, a Custer institution . . . all of the people at the schools---the best anywhere . . . cheers back and forth across the basketball court between the students and the parents . . . a Black Hills Conference track meet . . . conversations about Pierre events and people with the other former Pierre-ites who dominate the Custer landscape . . . the ladies at Lynn's checkout lanes . . . singing with the Community Church choir at Christmas and Easter . . . the constant search for a cellular phone signal hot spot . . . the courthouse people . . . the views while driving to Hot Springs and Newcastle . . . Marguerite, Mary and Janice at the library . . . 50-cent popcorn at the armory . . . the enthusiasm of the folks at the chamber (don't they EVER have a bad day?) . . . Cozy, my first friend from Custer . . . getting coffee from Larry down on the corner . . . sports talk with Bill Young . . . beating Paul and Jason in our football picks . . . Gold Discovery Days.

Hot apple cider . . . the old Carol Burnett variety shows . . . board games with the kids at holiday time . . . a checkbook error in my favor . . . campfires on a beach . . . the first glimpse of the campanile at SDSU . . . fudge . . . the endless sunset seen from the central South Dakota prairie . . . Handel's "Messiah" . . . Charlie Coyote . . . a new John Sparks book . . . sports talk radio . . . remembering Robert Disburg every time I spy a coin on the ground . . . scurrying outside with Dylan each time we hear the LifeFlight helicopter coming toward the Vermillion hospital . . . college students home for the holidays . . . a phone call from one of the kids to report they got there safely . . . Joe Mauer's sideburns . . . a high school choir in formal dress, eyes riveted on their director . . . sweet potatoes smothered in marshmallows . . . the Walker family on "Brothers & Sisters" . . . church pipe organs . . . the wave of a finger from a passing driver . . . my daily 10-minute imaginary trip to somewhere by means of Google Earth . . . hot dogs from the grill . . . semifinal night at a state basketball tournament . . . the exhilaration trumpet introduction to Charles Osgood's "Sunday Morning" show . . . a surprise e-mail from someone with whom I've been out of touch for awhile . . . a summer night at the ballpark . . . holiday decorations on the lightpoles . . . the newest Michael Buble CD . . . "SportsCenter" . . . the UPS driver pulling to a stop in our driveway . . . weddings of kids I watched grow up . . . the College World Series.

Golden memories of all those years in Pierre---the Kiwanis Singers ("Smile . . . and the world smiles with you . . . sing a song!") . . . the indoor marching band concerts . . . the Governor football team coming down the hill toward Hollister Field . . . the peninsula into Capitol Lake . . . the steeple of Ss. Peter & Paul . . . state Legion baseball at Hyde Stadium . . . a Farm Island stroll in the fall . . . the Capital City Children's Chorus . . . the railroad underpass on Pierre Street . . . Zesto in the spring, Zesto in the fall, Zesto at any time at all . . . the flags flying in the breeze in Hilger's Gulch . . . the Over Forte Orchestra . . . the view from the Verendrye Monument . . . carols broadcast from the tower at Faith Lutheran . . . the lighted cross atop First Methodist . . . the Green Wave at a state tournament . . . Riggs band trips . . . the lights of the city from 15 miles out . . . outdoor graduations . . . the Flaming Fountain . . . participating in music at our church and others . . . Pierre Players shows . . . the Cultural Heritage Center . . . Christmastime in the Rotunda . . . the bike path along the riverfront . . . community choir concerts . . . Capitals hockey . . . Steamboat Park on the night of the Fourth . . . South Madison Street Blues and Surprise Package . . . the jazz festival . . . Fort Pierre rodeos . . . the view of the river from the windows at Cattleman's . . . still hearing the voices of radio legends Del Fisher and Fred Smith, and for that matter, Dean Sorenson and "Mrs. Pierre" Ida McNeil . . . the sledding hill along Church Street . . . cruising on the Capital City Queen . . . the Fighting Stallions . . . the memory of the start of the press run each afternoon at 2 during the old Capital Journal days . . . the sunset from a deck overlooking the river . . . a train rumbling across the 100-year-old bridge.

Still-warm pumpkin pie with Cool Whip . . . the grand march at a high school prom . . . the twin spires of St. Anthony's rising out of the prairie at Hoven . . . the courageous young people who volunteer to serve overseas in dangerous places . . . the music of "Les Miserables" . . . a wave of a finger from a passing driver . . . sharing a TCBY ice cream cone with Oliver . . . dancing to big-band music . . . a hot Tom & Jerry on a frosty holiday morning . . . a baseball player stealing home . . . icicle lights hanging from the eaves . . . the hometown paper arriving in the mail . . . Coffee Hi at the Vermillion UCC church . . . the magic of Santa in "The Polar Express" . . . caramel rolls fresh from the oven . . . the Rockies (the baseball team as well as the mountains) . . . Marley (the dog, not the bah-humbug guy in "A Christmas Carol") . . . a steaming bowl of chili topped with shredded cheese . . . the spectacle of the state track meet . . . discovering the flowers have bloomed . . . the Twins game on the radio . . . razzleberry pie from the frozen foods case . . . the lights of Rapid City from the top of the Wasta hill after a long cross-state drive . . . the performers at the Miss South Dakota pageant . . . Tom Brady, Randy Moss and the Patriots . . . the Acoustic Christmas troupe . . . the downtown trolley in Sioux Falls . . . seeing what excellent mothers my daughters are and what loving uncles their brothers are . . . a choir's carols reverberating through the Capitol . . . a college campus in the fall . . . the lyrics of "I'll Be Home for Christmas" and the memories of long-past Christmases in Onida they invoke . . . running into somebody you know at an interstate rest area (only in South Dakota!) . . . Hamburger Helper . . . downtown Chicago---the Michigan Avenue stores, the old water tower, the bridges opening to let boats down the river, Navy Pier, the Field Museum, the skyline . . . filling in one's brackets for the NCAA basketball tournament . . . Josh Groban's "You Raise Me Up."

The downstream view of the Missouri from atop Oahe Dam . . . the spirit and camaraderie of smalltown folks, all dressed in the same colors, who follow their team hundreds of miles from home . . . people-watching at an airport or Mount Rushmore or a shopping mall . . . stepping along with the USD band as they march down the street toward a game in the Dome . . . the smell of bread baking in the oven . . . the soaring voices of the men of Il Divo . . . brownies . . . graduation receptions . . . drivers who yield . . . the choir processing down the aisle during the opening hymn . . . homecoming parades . . . seeing my kids and their cousins enjoying each other's company when they all get together . . . a fly-over by one of Ellsworth's bombers . . . "Remember the Titans" . . . the rush of seeing a car with a license plate from home . . . meatloaf simmering in the crockpot all day . . . unpacking the last cardboard box after moving---across town or across the state . . . Friday noon programs at the Shrine to Music Museum . . . a pan of frosted cookies from Granny Franny . . . the view up Main Street toward the courthouse on the hill in my hometown . . . old yearbooks . . . "Good Will Hunting" . . . ambrosia salad . . . "Mike & Mike in the Morning" on ESPN Radio . . . a football Saturday at Nebraska . . . music memories from three years at First Methodist in Rapid City . . . hearing one's governor or congressman or legislator call you by name (only in South Dakota!) . . . Storybook Island at Christmas time . . . loose change in the bottom of the washer or beneath the driver's seat . . . a first-ever school photo from my granddaughter . . . neighbors like the Wards across the street and the Russells next door . . . the view of the Nebraska river bluffs three miles away . . . pumpkin bread from the Hy-Vee store . . . high school and college reunions . . . "Touch 'em all, Justin Morneau!" . . . a nighttime story down on E-pa's couch before Dylan heads upstairs to bed . . . the down-home folks at the country church I visit once a month. And that's just a start . . . but most of all, my kids and my grandkids, my extended families, good times, great memories, good health, dear friends, and a life in which every day is a good time.

As you count your own blessings, one by one, this week, here's a toast to a blessed Thanksgiving to you and yours!